TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent The Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino was supposed to attract "high-end" customers to spend their money there, but ended up being flooded by foreign workers in the first five days of its operations much to the chagrin of gamblers. According to a Lianhe Wanbao report, the casino which was officially opened last Saturday on Chinese New Year's eve, had been swarmed by foreign workers who flocked there for free drinks. They ended up blocking the entrance and crowding the place, preventing gamblers from placing their bets in the process. Foreigners are allowed to enter the casino completely free of charge while Singaporeans and PRs are subjected to a $100 levy per entry. A 55 year old businessman by the name of Mr Huang told Lianhe Wanbao that many foreign workers fell asleep on the floor of the casino and each gambling table is surrounded by more than 10 of them who blocked other gamblers from placing their bets. Some Singaporeans interviewed felt that the casino should impose restrictions on the entry of foreign workers as they may resort to crime should they lose their savings on the gambling table. Already, one Indonesian was jailed 4 weeks for stealing a handphone after he lost his money at the RWS casino. With the end of the festive season, the number of visitors to the casino is expected to dip. The two IRs were launched amidst much fanfare by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2005 to diversify Singapore's economy and to attract more tourists to Singapore. Faced with intense competition from casinos in Malaysia and Macau, it remains to be seen if the two casinos are able to draw in the heavy spenders or just foreign workers who simply loiter at the premises without spending a single cent. News source: Lianhe Wanbao  Read More →

Dear Mr Lee,   I refer to your comments made at the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Singapore's 40th anniversary celebrations as reported by Straits Times on 11 Dec 2009.   You said old people don't change cars, television sets or golf clubs every year.  Neither do younger people.  In fact, changing cars and consumer goods every year is not only wasteful but detrimental to the environment.  If we were to take your argument to the extreme and change cars every day, we will end up bankrupting ourselves and all our productive funds will end up in the junk yard in the form of junk cars.  We need meaningful consumption, not mindlessly increasing consumption.   You said exports depend on the domestic market having first tried out the product.  But Japan has 127 million people, more than enough to test products.  Finland has a population of 5 million only.  Yet they delivered Nokia.   You said by 2050, there will be an expected 1.2 Japanese workers for every old folk, down from the current 3.7 and you said that is a terrible problem.  But that is not a terrible problem, its a necessary outcome.  If there are more young than old, then the population will keep growing and growing in a finite space that is already very over crowded.  At some point, the population must stabilise in order not to over stress the land.  Population stablity requires that the ratio between the young and the old must be closer to one.   Furthermore, the Japanese saves a lot.  If every Japanese saves enough for his or her own retirement, he or she will not be a burden to future generations.  So the key is that no matter how many people we have, as long as everyone is meaningfully engaged in earning a decent income throughout his or her productive years, no one has to be a burden to anyone else.   You can't just count the permanent residents and new citizens and pretend that the rest of the foreigners don't exist.  They compete for space in trains and housing units just the same.   You said if we removed 1.2 million foreigners, all restaurants, theatres, everything will be one third empty.  Conversely, if we added 1.2 million foreigners, will our restaurants be one third over filled?  Certainly not.  Instead, we'd end up with one third more restaurants than before.  Similarly if we were to remove 1.2 million foreigners, we will have one third less restaurants, not restaurants that are one third empty.  There is nothing wrong with having one third less restaurants when we have one third less people.  If you have one third less people in your house would you need the same number of chopsticks or computers as before?     Thank you     Ng Kok Lim  Read More →

【明報專訊】不少銀行雖然陸續和解贖回雷曼迷債或其他高風險投資產品，但有分毫未取回的事主昨到中環星展銀行分行抗議，將一樽透明液體掟落分行門前，更點起打火機，惹來汽油彈縱火驚魂。銀行報警後，消防到場證實他只是拋擲清水，惟事主最終涉嫌遊蕩被警方拘捕。 不滿銀行不贖雷曼產品 現場為中環皇后大道中99號中環廣場，地庫為星展銀行 (DBS) 分行，出入口在地面。事發昨午1時許，據距離現場約30呎外一個報攤的檔主聲稱，當時目擊該51歲姓黃男子獨自到銀行，欲進入時有保安員拒絕讓黃入內，雙方爆發爭執，其間黃情緒激動，不時大聲高喊，聲稱自己在星展購買了雷曼相關產品，不滿銀行不肯贖回。 檔主又說，黃突然取出一個1.5公升礦泉水樽拋向銀行側門地面，但並未擊中玻璃門，隨即有透明液體從樽內濺出，「他突然拿出打火機點火，拿到自己的腳和鞋，我當時隱約聞到有電油味！」銀行保安員見狀報警。 黃當時並未點着任何物件，他拾起水樽後沿皇后大道中往西走了約100米，然後在永吉街交界停下，將水樽丟棄在一個垃圾桶，再折返現場，警方此時趕至將他截停。 液體僅清水 涉遊蕩被捕 消防其後到場檢驗後，發現該樽內的液體只是清水，並非易燃液體。警方最終以遊蕩罪名將黃拘捕。 雷曼苦主大聯盟召集人陳光譽表示，雷曼迷債一度令不少人傾家蕩產，其後有銀行宣布與事主和解，贖回雷曼迷債及其他高風險投資產品，但有銀行仍未與客戶和解，「至今仍有3000名事主不獲銀行和解，涉款近30億元。」陳說，不少「仍未上岸」的事主目睹其他人紛紛贖回部分血本，自己卻一無所有，難免感到絕望，情緒激動下堅持到銀行抗議。 Source: http://news.sina.com.hk/cgi-bin/nw/show.cgi/2/1/1/1430594/1.html  Read More →